Sausage and artificial casing therefor



NITED sTATEs- P Patented oct. 19, 1937 `Tv OFFICEI l 1 Claim.

My inventionrelates to an improved `artificial casing for lsausages and to sausages in which such 'casings are employed. Previously to my invention natural casings prepared from the en- -5 trails of animals have been commonly employed as the containers in which sausage meat is marketed. It has likewise been common to employv fabric casings for the purpose, a. tubing of suitable size being formed by sewing together the opposite-edges of a strip of cotton or, other fabric of suitable width producing a longitudinal seam in the casing. More recently casings haveY been vvmade from fibrous material treated with cellulosic solution and from cellulosic solutions 5 alone extruded in thin tubular form, the tubei being subsequently treated to precipitate, solidify or harden the cellulosic material thereof. These extruded cellulosic Vtubings have certain advantages over the above mentioned natural and arti- '20 cial casings, but are expensive and dillicult to manufacture; especially whereit is desirable that the wall of the casingbe very thin as in the small size sausages commonly 'known as wieners.

The present invention relates to a sausage cas- 25 ing formed of a strip of sheet material helically wound preferably with the edges overlapping and suitably cemented together. In its broader aspect the invention `is independent of the particular sheet material used and is applicable to those 30 previously. mentioned.- VThe invention is particularly applicable.' however, to the formation of sausage casings from cellulosic material in sheet form and will be more specifically described in connectiony therewith. As compared to casings 35 formed from the other materials mentionedr the sausage casings formed from cellulosic material in sheet form are clean, uniform in thickness,

may be made of any degree of thinness desired,

and transparent or translucent and of any desired 'coloring As compared to extruded casings of cellulosic material, the' wall thickness thereof is more uniform and'may be more readily controlled, particularly where, as in the case of casings for ,wieners, it is desirable that the casing wall be extremely thin and they are cheaper and easier to manufacture. the enclosed meat is much more readily accomplished in sausages cased according to my invention for the reason that the strip or strips of- 50 which the casing is formed readily separate at .the helical seams or overlapping edges when an end o f the strip or, in the case where a plurality of strips is used, one of them, is grasped and the strip unwound from the sausage. 'I'his is true, notwithstanding that the cement or adhe- Stripping of the casing from sive by which the edges are secured together is of ample strength to withstand the stuffing of the sausage, for the coils of the wound strip readily withstand the pressure of the stuffing opera# tion and indeed the outward pressure of the contents of the casing serves to press the overlapping edges of the strip or strips more firmly together which, of course, would not be the case were the casing formed with a longitudinal seam or seams as has heretofore been proposed.

A In the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification,

Figure l'is an elevation of a casing tube of my invention in the process of formation; and

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a sausage in which such a casing is employed.

The casing may be formedfrom a sheet or film of any suitable material, su'ch as fibrous material, parchmentized paper or the like. Preferably a cellulosic material is employed. By known processes of manufacture, the cellulosic material is formed in a sheet or sheets of any desired thickness, the thickness of the sheet being chosen according to the particular form of sausage in which the casings are to be used.- Thus for; wieners, which are commonly formed in links separated by twisted portions of the casing, a

thin material is preferable to facilitate the twisting, whileV in the'case of sausages of larger diameter such, for example, as bologna sausage,

which islunlinked, a somewhat thicker sheet mai terial is desirable.

If trade-mark or other printing is desired upon thecasingl, it is preferable and more convenient and lessV expensive to print the sheet material ,before it is cut into strips, the location of the desired markings on the sausage casing being predetermined-and the printing correspondingly located on the sheet. Of course, the strips may be printed after they are cut, but somewhat complicates the printing operation. Either or both sides of the sheet materlaLmay be printed, though if rvit is desired to print the side of the sheet or film which is in contact with the con-4 more or less overlapped. In the particular exemplication shown in the drawing, the single strip 3 of which the casing tube is formed is about 1 inch in width and I have also found a width of 1% inches to be satisfactory for sausages of usual sizes. The adjacent edges of the strip may be overlapped to any desired extent and I have illustrated an overlap of something less than 1/3 of an inch as at 4 (Fig. 1). -Thestrip 4is conveniently wound upon a mandrel to form the tubing.v

As heretofore stated, the overlapping edges of theA casing are cemented together. This may be accomplished by applying to the edges or one of them before or at the time the strip is wound to form the casing a band of adhesive correspondr ing in width to the overlap. Any suitable cement or adhesive may be used and the choice of adhesive will depend in part upon the sheet material of which the casing is formed and in part upon the subsequent treatment to which the casing or the sausage formed by stuffing the casing is subjected. Thus, for example, if the casing and sausage are very large or if the pressure to which the casing is subjected in the stuifing operation is relatively great, a stronger adhesive should be used; and if the sausage in which the casing is used is to be subjected to cooking, the adhesive should be substantially waterproof at the temperatures employed. It is necessary that the joint \be suiiiciently strong to withstand the stuffing operation, but it is preferable that it be not so strong that it will not strong, in preparing the sausage for .consumpreadily yield when the manufacturer or consumer strips the casing from the sausage. When the casing or the sausage of which it forms an element is not subjected to severe strain or conl ditions, ordinary pastes such as those made from gum arabic and the like, animal glues, vegetable glues or rubber based cement may be used. For example, a casing intended to be used for uncooked fresh pork sausage, or chili will require only an adhesive of ordinary strength and little Water resistance. Where the conditions are more.v4 severe pyroxylin or other vstrong cement may be "f employed. It is desirable that in connection with casingsmade from cellulosic materials, adhesives of the nature of cellulosic solutions be used and in any event if the casing material is transparent the adhesive to be used should be transparent so that the seam, joint, or overlapmay be unobtrusive.

The helically wound tubing is Ipreferably made continuously, by machinery or otherwise, and cut into suitable lengths for casings. Thel casings, except in the respects previously mentioned are utilized in the preparation of sausages substantiatllyl as othercasings, as, for example, the extruded casings previously mentioned, areused.

be taken in the ngers and the strip is then readily unwound from the sausage, leaving the meat available for consumption.

Obviously, if the sheet material from which the strips'are formed is very thin and a stronger casing is desired, two or more plies may be used wrapped in the same or in reversed spirals or helices. By suitably printing the sheet material,

v trade marks* or other indicia or advertising matter may be made to appear Wherever desired upon the casings.

For shipping to customers, casings are ordinarily packed in flattened condition to save space. This is true also of my improved casing and preferably the printing, trade mark or descriptive matter, is so located on the strip or sheet from which the casing is formed that the printing will appear entirely on one or the other of the sides of the flattened casing, or on both, but will not be intersected by the fold or flattened edge of the casing.

As heretofore stated if the adhesive is 'not too tion, the casing may be stripped by unwinding the strip of material fromv which it is formed, the edges of the strip parting at the joint. But 'if the adhesive used is tooV strong to permit this, nevertheless the spirally formed casing may be readily stripped as the edge of the spiral seam or overlap forms a natural guide along which the strip tears as it is unwound.

Though I have described the casing of my invention in connection with the manufacture of sausages, it isv obvious that it may be employed for a variety of other uses as for wrapping or enclosing cigars, candy, .or the like.

I claim: Y

A sausage comprising a meat filling and a casing formed of a spirally wound strip of cellulosic sheet material and having overlapping seams cementitiously adhered together by a material capaf ble of resisting the stuing pressure but adapted to have its bond readily broken by a peeling of the strip to expose the filling, the ends of the casing being gathered to close the same and providing tab-like portions for facilitating said peeling.

RALPH L. ATKINSON. 

